Review: Click here! Trailer: Click here!
Where To Watch: VOD, Home Video to be released on February 9th.
It might seem strange to see a disaster movie on a list like this, but it has been a long time since we’ve gotten a disaster movie that came together as strongly as this. Focusing less on spectacle and more on the human factor, the filmmakers crafted an experience that often left me anxious and shaken. Gerard Butler doesn’t get the credit he deserves in bringing back the kind of everyman action star that used to dominate screens in the late 80s and into the 90s. The cinematic landscape has changed, but I’m happy to see stars like him in movies like this. If you initially dismissed it as junk, I urge you to reconsider.
Review: N/A Trailer: Click here!
Where To Watch: Shudder, Home Video
Joko Anwar has released two great films in 2020, Impetigore, and the best superhero film of the year in Gundala. Either one could have found a place on this list, but Impetigore earns its place due to its impressive sense of craft, scope, sense of mystery, and its harrowing bursts of violence. It hooks you in from its striking opening scene, and it never loosens its grip on you for the rest of the film. When I saw this, I knew it would be my favorite horror film of the year, and it cements the Indonesian film industry as being in the middle of a renaissance of sorts, akin to the Korean New Wave of the late 2000s.
Review: Click here! Trailer: Click here!
Where To Watch: VOD, Home Video to be released on February 2nd.
There’s a refreshing simplicity to Let Him Go, but not so much as to come at the expense of having complex and interesting characters. It’s the kind of adult, genre leaning drama that normally dominated screens thirty years ago, with the grittiness and earnestness of an early Clint Eastwood film. I love that even in an industry largely concerned with capes and IP, films like this still manage to slip through the cracks, and I’ll absolutely treasure them. Kevin Costner and Diane Lane are both terrific and deeply soulful, and Lesley Manville is delightfully villainous. It’s a film whose impact is subtle, yet profound.
Review: N/A Trailer: Click here!
Where To Watch: Amazon Prime Video
Yet another addition to this list that was from Steve McQueen’s Small Axe series, and in my opinion, the very best of the bunch. In a year when The Trial Of The Chicago 7 came in and dominated awards conversations, Mangrove shows how to breathe life into that formula, and really make you think and feel at the same time. No shade to Aaron Sorkin, his film is entertaining and full of great dialogue, but McQueen brings a visual prowess, urgency, and humanity that was missing from Sorkin’s film. Watching Mangrove left me enthralled, infuriated, and it made me feel that justice could be possible, even when it seems like everything is stacked against you.
Review: Click here! Trailer: Click here!
Where To Watch: In Theaters On February 12th.
While a majority of Minari is spoken in Korean, it is a classic American tale as any you have seen. It’s a story about a family, a family of immigrants, and the tough choices they often have to make so they can succeed in America, not just for themselves, but for the children. A tale as old as America itself, and Lee Isaac Chung knows that, channeling his childhood to create this moving experience that features dreamy flourishes and real, intimate performances from its cast. I mentioned in my review that I was sometimes reminded of my own childhood experiences, and I stand by that. It may not look like an “important” film, in the traditional sense, but it is still every bit as essential.
Review: Click here! Trailer: Click here!
Where To Watch: Home Video, VOD, HBO Max
Speaking of real and intimate performances, Never Rarely Sometimes Always delivers an understated emotional roller-coaster, which is something you could say to most of Eliza Hittman’s films. It’s a story about abortion, and the way our society makes the process of getting on so unnecessarily complicated. It’s also a film about friendship, as you follow these two girls on their tumultuous journey, with one willing to do just about anything to help her friend in need. It is incredibly affecting, empathetic, sometimes even quite harrowing, and it is by far Hittman’s finest work to date as a filmmaker to date.
Review: Click here! Trailer: Click here!
Where To Watch: Select Theaters, VOD, Home Video to be released on March 23rd.
The latest from Paul Greengrass is easily my favorite of his, and it may or may not be because I have a strong affinity for both Tom Hanks and westerns. It is a film that explores trauma and the way we try to move on from it, and how sometimes we are afraid of leaving the life prior to that trauma beforehand. On one hand, we have a girl who has lost her family, and gets taken in by Indians, grows accustom to their lifestyle, and is taken away again by a news reader. Then in the background, you have an entire nation grappling with the aftermath of the civil war, still divided and angry. It’s optimism about how we can move on may seem naive, but I find it powerful.
Review: Click here! Trailer: Click here!
Where To Watch: Now out in select theaters before expanding and releasing to Hulu on February 18th.
Chloé Zhao is feeling more and more like one of America’s most essential cinematic voices. Nomadland is a meditation on freedom, economic hardships, and the ways people who try to survive outside the system. It’s a film that puts you in a world, and lets you observe things with patience and empathy and understanding. It’s artful and without reverting to the kind of misery porn or poverty fetish you would normally find in Hollywood. There’s genuine compassion on display. It’s truly a beautiful film in nearly every regard, and Frances McDormand delivers an understated, yet powerful performance. It might seem like a chore, but it truly is special.
Review: Click here! Trailer: Click here!
Where To Watch: Select Theaters, Amazon Prime Video
Regina King’s directorial debut is in one sense a delightful hangout film, and in another, a melancholic examination of how four Black icons navigated the balance between their personal ambitions with concerns for the greater community. While one can certainly see elements of its origins on stage, it is impossible not to get sucked into its energy and the performances from its amazing cast. Seeing these personalities bounce off one another is deeply fascinating and entertaining, but the reason the film sticks with you is that it never loses sight of the very real stakes they had to deal with.
Review: Click here! Trailer: Click here!
Where To Watch: Home Video, VOD, Disney+
I might be the only one to have this on my list over Soul, and it’s not that I disliked Soul, that couldn’t be further from the truth. However, despite Onward’s almost stubbornly commitment to the Pixar formula, I found myself profoundly connected to its themes on loss and grief. Watching the film brought back some of the emotions I felt following the loss of my own father, and it was something that kept me emotionally engaged. It’s also a very funny film, and a great adventure that takes advantage of its fascinating world. I understand why this may not have worked as strong for others, but it really worked for me.
Review: Click here! Trailer: Click here!
Where To Watch: Netflix
Over The Moon explores similar themes to Onward, and arguably to a younger audience, but it brings its own vibe and style to those themes that really allow it to create an identity of its own. It feels like a classic Disney film that I would have seen as a child, and it certainly helps that Disney legend, Glen Keane, is the filmmaker behind it. It has lovely songs, likable characters, and a terrific eye for design and animation. It’s full of the kind of hijinks you’d expect from an family film like this, but it has a lot of heart.
Review: Click here! Trailer: Click here!
Where To Watch: Home Video, VOD
Yes, I know it’s technically Posessor Uncut, but that’s a silly name, and I’m not calling it that, and I don’t think anyone will call it that in a couple years. Anyway, this was another film that came relatively early int he year, and was one that I immediately knew was going to be on my final list. Brandon Cronenberg brings a unflinching and horrifying vision to what is basically a film about corporate espionage, but covers a variety of ideas like identity and invasion of privacy. Andrea Riseborough and Christopher Abbott play off each other really well, despite hardly sharing the screen or even directly interacting with one another. And my, oh my, as someone who digs gore, this was straight up catnip. This film goes so hard, it would make Lucio Fulci wince. But even at its most indulgent, it remains masterful in its execution.
Review: Click here! Trailer: Click here!
Where To Watch: Select Theaters, VOD
It’s refreshing to see an American film be so willing to invite conversation. Promising Young Woman has proven to be, and rather unsurprisingly so, one of the most talked about films of the year with people loving it and people hating it, and I love art that can pull off that kind of reaction. Writer/director, Emerald Fennell, has such a sense of control, and Carey Mulligan commands the screen to such an extent that I can’t imagine anyone coming out of the movie without a strong thought. I can understand those who feel it exploits the experiences of those who have suffered real trauma, but I also understand those who say it brings catharsis. More than anything, the film is a testament to the power that a film can have over its audience.
Review: Click here! Trailer: Click here!
Where To Watch: Netflix
Honey Trehan’s Hindi language whodunnit is an indictment on the patriarchal grip that still has a firm grasp over families. It’s also an exploration of female resilience and class divide. But this is not a message movie. It sprinkles these ideas and themes over a lengthy but thoroughly engrossing mystery that is anchored by brilliant performances from Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Radhika Apte. It guides you through an intricate story, allowing for nuance, while still providing plenty of thrills along the way. It’s an assured film, beautifully constructed, and one of the better Indian films that Netflix has produced so far.
Review: N/A Trailer: Click here!
Where To Watch: Amazon Prime Video
It was incredibly tough having to decide whether to include this or Lovers Rock on the list, and while many have gone with the latter, and in plenty of cases even topping their lists, I’m going with Red, White, And Blue mostly because I was so enamored by John Boyega, who delivers what is probably his finest performance so far, and in a role that oddly has in some ways mirrored his real life experiences in exposing the struggles of being a person-of-color in a system that doesn’t look out for your best interests, even as you try to fix it from the inside. It’s a great, and hard hitting film, and I strongly urge you to see it and the others in Steve McQueen’s Small Axe series.
Review: Click here! Trailer: Click here!
Where To Watch: Home Video, VOD
Ken Loach and his collaborator, Paul Laverty, are not messing around in how they portray the struggles of the average, everyday working class. While this is a British film, it’s emotions resonate because they’re universal. The idea of having to put work before family because you’re given no choice is one many people deal with, and the filmmakers treat that dilemma with sensitivity and urgency. It’s an understated film, but it’s final moments are a gut punch. Films can be a great escape, but sometimes it’s necessary to have films reflect the world around us, and reveal the truths that we often try to ignore.
Review: Click here! Trailer: Click here!
Where To Watch: Home Video, VOD
This was perhaps one of the year’s biggest surprises. Brian Duffield’s directorial debut felt like the perfect antidote to our current times. Equal parts cynical and optimistic, a contradictory sentiment that somehow feels perfectly at home with how the current generation has experienced life. It’s a film about how things are never quite what was promised to you, and despite everything telling you that you don’t matter and that everything is futile, there is still a reason to push forward and to make the best out of what we are collectively dealing with. There were many timely films to come out, whether intended or not, but this stands head and shoulders above all of them.
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